MOMS UNITE by Victoria Rierdan Hurley

The Ballot Initiatives

As predicted, the ballot measures failed.  Well, all but the one which would prevent pay raises for legislators and statewide officeholders in deficit years.  I don’t think that anyone expected any other outcome on that one.

Today LAUSD issued a bulletin to the principals and the press regarding the situation and how the failure of 1A and 1B to pass will affect the schools.  The basic answer is that it’s bad.  The gigantic school deficit will grow from the current $131 M for the 2008-09 year to $1.3 B by 2010-11.  Yes, that’s Billion.  More cuts will have to be made. People will lose their jobs. It will hurt. To be clear, this is State wide.

We’re probably going to see more angry demonstrations coming from the teacher’s union, and more propaganda from them, more protests and rallies and petitions from parents and more grassroots groups like MOMS UNITE coming together to work for change. 

Superintendent Cortines and the School Board are putting plans in place to offset as much as possible, but, of course, there will still be a huge gap.  So we, as parents, have a choice.  We can panic and flee the public school system or even the State, or we can panic and work together to figure out how to save public education and make it work.  Clearly, we need to get the panicking out of our system because there is definitely reason to panic.  But, we also have an unprecedented amount of power to get involved. We are not helpless.

A lot of us are doubly impacted because we’ve been hit by the bad economy too and maybe private school isn’t an option anymore.  So we can use our voices in Sacramento and we can use our skills to convey to the legislators that we demand that education be made a priority in this State. 

I’ll have more information in the coming days that I will share with you.

Victoria

Some News About the Teacher's Union

So Teacher’s Union leader AJ Duffy finally got his wish. He’s been trying to get himself arrested for months now.  Back in March, he and some of his supporters, who for some reason were not in their classrooms, cooked up a big plan to disrupt the School Board meeting to get arrested on camera.  Their ham-fisted publicity stunt backfired and all they ended up doing was getting into a shouting match with parents, looking like jerks, and driving the Board members into a closed session.  I was at that meeting and was very disappointed to hear Mr. Duffy’s point of view.  Not once did he mention the welfare of the children. Not once did he indicate the damage that massive layoffs and increased class size would do to the quality of education.  Then he complained that the parents are against them.  Obviously, if you are a parent of a child in a public school, or any school for that matter, you are not going to be against the teachers.  To even suggest as much is ludicrous.  I did, however, find myself very much against Mr. Duffy. 

As you probably know, the Court ruled that the teachers could not strike last Friday without being in breach of contract. The Union encouraged them to engage in civil disobedience anyway.  Almost double the number of substitute teachers than usual were called on and teachers in many schools did picket.  Mr. Duffy, along with many teachers, were arrested outside of district headquarters.  But here’s what you may not know. Earlier this week, Mr. Duffy met with Superintendent Cortines and discussed a compromise.  Finally.  Certain ideas, like salary caps and unpaid furlough days, were discussed and agreed to.  Yet, the teachers were still encouraged by their Union in their publicity seeking civil disobedience activities.  People were arrested!!!  For what?  The Union is already cutting a deal that will save jobs!

My son’s teacher is wonderful.  She is smart, kind, compassionate, patient and passionate about teaching.  I’m in awe of the way she handles her class. And the kids adore her. The teacher he had last year in pre-k (a program that we have since lost due to budget cuts), is incredible. He was born to teach and I cannot say enough good things about him.  He was my first introduction to public school and I was sold. They, and all of the other wonderful teachers who devote their lives to educating our children should be treated better than this.  They should not be worried about being laid off. They should not be used as pawns by their own Union. And, certainly, they should not be arrested for no reason.

Victoria

Teacher Strike Update

This just in from people in the know…. the Court ruled that the teachers cannot walk out tomorrow as they had threatened.  However, we’re hearing rumblings that the Union is not giving up so easily. I don’t know exactly what may happen and on which campuses, but the word is that there may be disruptions of various types.  Teachers are being encouraged to call in sick, be late, and/or engage in other types of behavior that will skate the line  of the Court Order.

 

Most importantly, your children WILL NOT be in any danger.    At worst, it will be an unconventional day, with not much learning or testing being done. Administrators will have to scramble to keep their campuses in order. It does show, however, that the Union is not above some dirty tricks.  And I’ll just say it, Union leader AJ Duffy is a man who puts the needs of the students at the bottom of the list.

 

Again, check with your school administrator in the morning to determine what, if anything, parents can do to help.

 

Victoria